10/11

Compost windrow turner

This nifty machine (called a “compost windrow turner”—more like a Transformer, if you ask me) was imported from Europe to speed up the compost mixing process.

While it sure would be fun to use one of these to aerate your home compost pile, simpler ways to do it include poking holes in the compost, driving pipes into the pile, physically turning the pile, or building the pile so tiny air spaces are trapped in the compost (this can be done by using hay, straw, and other coarse materials).

Turning is only really necessary in large-scale composting operations, since the piles are so large they can essentially smother themselves. A properly constructed home compost pile should aerate itself!